It’s typical to experience bleeding after a hysterectomy. But that doesn’t mean that all bleeding is normal. Most people experience bleeding immediately following the procedure and for several weeks afterward. It should get lighter with time.

When I was five months pregnant with my second child, I woke up to warm fluid leaking beneath me in the middle of the night. Bleeding during pregnancy can be understandably scary, and I feared the worst: another miscarriage. That year, I’d already lost ...